This invention relates generally to data base management systems, and in particular, to a system for regulating access to a data base so as to require an interactive exchange of data.
A variety of data bases have been developed to suit a variety of applications, to accumulate information useful in conjunction with such applications. Essentially, a data base is an assembled collection of information pertaining to a particular topic, which may subdivided into any of a number of topic headings (i.e., "fields" groups of fields, or files). The improvements of the present invention will be discussed in a commercial setting, for the collection of information pertaining to business opportunities and for disseminating information from the collected data base. However, such improvements will find equal applicability to other data bases, pertaining to other endeavors.
More specifically, the data base management system of the present invention will be described in conjunction with the identification of potential customers for specified goods and/or services to better direct the sales efforts of a particular business, i.e., a sales "lead" (a potential customer need that could be profitably satisfied by a vendor). The generation of leads has traditionally constituted a marketing and/or sales function performed either by an individual (for a smaller business concern), a department (for larger business concerns) or a third-party vendor. Regardless of size, the generation of leads is primarily supported, and indeed promoted by advertising, cold calling, direct mail, promotion, networking, related sales functions and innumerable other activities designed to identify, stimulate and qualify the demand for a particular product or service.
However, the costs associated with lead generation are significant, and often represent a sizeable portion of an operating budget. For example, a simple direct mail campaign to 1,000 prospects may typically cost on the order of $1,000.00, and might at best draw a 5% response rate. This limited response rate must then produce a sufficient amount of new business (i.e., sales) for the direct mail campaign to be considered successful. Basic advertising in a trade magazine may typically cost on the order of $5,000.00, and often draws no concurrent or qualified leads. Advertising of this nature seeks to promote lead generation in the future. Cold calling incurs a substantial expense, tends to draw a severely limited response, and is further prone to "burnout" of the sales representatives performing such a function. Other techniques for lead generation are often even less directed, and suffer from similar disadvantages.
Also to consider is that even after a lead has been generated, the quality of that lead will contribute to determining its potential for profitability. This is best illustrated when considering that industry studies presently suggest an average cost of $200.00 to identify a lead, followed by an average cost of $250.00 per lead for a sales representative to initially service the lead and identify its potential. The quality of a generated lead therefore becomes important since such costs must then form a component part of the overall cost of the product being sold, including lost revenues from sales efforts (resulting from leads) that are unsuccessful.
For this reason, efforts have been made to provide vendors with ways to obtain good, qualified leads that can minimize expenses, shorten sales cycles and increase revenues and profitability. This also tends to improve morale and enhance the effectiveness of sales personnel. Often, third party providers are consulted to provide businesses with qualified leads, based upon their experience in a given field (i.e., a consultant). As an alternative, available data base information is analyzed, employing sources such as the "Dodge" reports or the Dun and Bradstreet services. However, such leads are often secondary in nature, resulting from information derived for other purposes. Consequently, a relatively small proportion of the leads provided by such services will actually contribute to a successful sale, limiting their overall effectiveness and contributing to significant costs and employee dissatisfaction.
To provide a more targeted means for establishing leads for sale purposes, structured organizations have been attempted. One such example is "Ali Lassen's Leads Club", which is a national network of clubs seeking to attract individuals and businesses interested in trading leads on a regular basis. While these clubs do tend to promote the exchange of numerous leads among their members, there are a variety of limitations. First, active participation is voluntary and not mandatory. Consequently, the generation of leads is neither constant, predictable, nor assured for all members. There is no reliable system for ensuring that useful leads will be forthcoming. Second, such clubs tend to attract a limited cross-section of members, primarily limited to entrepreneurs and sales people. This tends to limit the scope of the leads available from such encounters, and it is for this reason that such clubs tend toward commercial and retail services rather than high value industrial sales.
There have also been efforts to automate the generation of useful leads for sales purposes. This has included automated advertising (both classified and products/situations wanted), and so-called "chat lines" allowing commercial discussions and exchanges of information. An example of this general approach is the "Forum" program, available from CompuServe. This system promotes on-line discussions of subjects of interest to its users. The system's strength is its ability to communicate high quality information to a large pool of users. Advertising is accepted as part of this service. However, the purpose of this system is not to generate leads, but rather to exchange information of interest to the system's users. Again, there is no system for ensuring, or even promoting the exchange of leads, and a limited cross-section of users is generally encountered.
It therefore remained of interest to develop a system that can positively identify useful leads for purposes of selling the goods and/or services of a particular business enterprise. A more effective identification of useful leads was needed to provide a more targeted and efficient sales effort, leading to savings in cost, increased revenue and improved employee morale. Such a system would also have the advantage of assisting a purchaser in finding suitable vendors for supplying its needs, avoiding unnecessary and/or redundant sales efforts not suited to such needs.